This collection contains biographical clippings, family
documents, correspondence, manuscripts, publicity materials, some published materials,
and her personal copies of books she considered to be influential. Correspondence
includes many letters with John C. Powys, the Welsh novelist, essayist, and poet, as
well as correspondence from Ursula K. Le Guin, Ben Abramson, Poul Anderson, Jürgen
Schweier, and Kenneth Zahorski. While the collection spans 1839 to 2012, the bulk of the
materials range from 1929-1994.
Collection Number:
MS 384
Repository:
University of Arizona Libraries, Special Collections
University of Arizona
PO Box 210055
Tucson, AZ 85721-0055
Phone: 520-621-6423
Fax: 520-621-9733
URL: http://speccoll.library.arizona.edu/
E-Mail: LBRY-askspcoll@email.arizona.edu
Biographical Note
Evangeline Wilna Ensley, better known by her penname Evangeline Walton, was born in
Indianapolis, Indiana on November 24, 1907. Based on the Welsh book of legends, the
first volume of her Mabinogion tetralogy, The Virgin and the Swine, was published in
1936. . It was re-published in 1970 as The Island of the Mighty, followed by The
Children of Llyr in 1971, The Song of Rhiannon in 1972, and The Prince of Annwn in 1974.
Other novels include 1945's Witch House, 1956's The Cross and the Sword, 1983's The
Sword is Forged, and the posthumously published She Walks in Darkness.
Suffering from ill health as a child, Evangeline was treated with silver nitrate
tincture which gave her skin a blue-gray tint which darkened as she aged. Raised by her
mother and maternal grandmother after her parents divorced in 1924, she often mentioned
her family's Quaker faith as an important inspiration for the distinctly feminist angle
of many of her stories. Evangeline moved to Tucson in 1946 after her grandmother passed
away, where she lived until her death in 1996.
Scope and Content Note
The Evangeline Ensley Walton papers consist of biographical clippings, family documents,
correspondence, manuscripts, publicity materials, some published materials, and
Evangeline's personal copies of books she considered to be influential. The family
documents include materials from the Coyner, Furnas, and Ensley families. The
correspondence contains personal and professional correspondence. Evangeline kept many
letters that were sent to her, including a letter from fellow author Ursula K. Le Guin,
which is located in Box 15 Folder 42.
Evangeline typed her manuscripts on onionskin paper as well as whatever scraps of paper
she could find. Because she constantly rewrote pages, there are often multiple copies of
similar pages. Debra Hammond, Evangeline's literary heir, was able to get some of
Evangeline's manuscripts published posthumously. Some works that Evangeline considered
to be influential are included in this collection, several of which carry inscriptions
to and from her family members. Also included in this collection are foreign copies of
some of her works. Other assorted books by Evangeline Walton have been cataloged as part
of Special Collection's general book collection.
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish from the owner of
the copyright (the institution, the creator of the record, the author or his/her
transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The user agrees to indemnify and
hold harmless the Arizona Board of Regents for the University of Arizona, its officers,
employees, and agents from and against all claims made by any person asserting that he
or she is an owner of copyright.
August Derleth, director of Arkham House, July 17, 1946
1
2
(continued) Publishers, to Evangeline Walton Ensley. Concerning the
rights to The Virgin and the Swine. , undated
1
2
Incomplete list of "inspirational" advice, undated
1
2
John Milton Phillips, Minister of The First Church of Christ in
Hartford, Connecticut to Ben (?) complimenting The Virgin and the Swine.
, April 12, 1937
1
2
Ben Abramson of the Argus Bookshop Inc. in Chicago to Evangeline Walton
Ensley, August 8, 1937
1
3
Photograph (John C. Powys ?), April 14, 1938
1
3
John C. Powys to Evangeline Walton, undated
1
3
John C. Powys to Evangeline Walton, December 14, 1936
1
3
John C. Powys to Evangeline Walton complimenting The Virgin and
the Swine , February 23, 1937
1
3
John C. Powys to Evangeline Walton. Incomplete letter with no
date, February 27, 1937(?)
1
3
John C. Powys to Evangeline Walton, March 6,1937
1
3
John C. Powys to Evangeline Walton, April 20, 1937
1
3
John C. Powys to Evangeline Walton, June 19, 1937
1
3
John C. Powys to Evangeline Walton, August 4, 1937
1
3
John C. Powys to Evangeline Walton, October 23, 1937
1
3
John C. Powys to Evangeline Walton, December 31, 1937
1
3
John C. Powys to Evangeline Walton, April 20, 1938
1
3
John C. Powys to Evangeline Walton, July 31,1938
1
3
John C. Powys to Evangeline Walton, December 9, 1938
1
3
John C. Powys to Evangeline Walton, December 9 or 10, 1938
1
3
John C. Powys to Evangeline Walton, April 22,1939
1
3
John C. Powys to Evangeline Walton, August 19, 1939
1
3
John C. Powys to Evangeline Walton, January 22, 1940
1
3
John C. Powys to Evangeline Walton, January 19, 1957
1
3
John C. Powys to Evangeline Walton, February 13,1957
1
3
John C. Powys to Evangeline Walton, September 15, 1957
1
3
John C. Powys to Evangeline Walton, January 5, 1958
1
3
John C. Powys to Evangeline Walton, December 10, 1958
1
3
John C. Powys to Evangeline Walton , 1959
box
folder
16
5
John Cowper Powys, 1940-1957
box
folder
15
39
Publishers/Agents, 1929-1959, 1975-1981
15
40
Miscellaneous, 1945-1985, undated
15
41
A-G, 1973-1985
15
42
H-P, 1937-1974, 1994
15
43
Q-Z, 1971-1989
15
44
Ben Abramson, 1939-1949
15
45
Jürgen Schweier, 1978-1980
15
46
Poul Anderson, 1975
15
47
Ballantine, 1972-1974, 1991
15
48
Bouregy, 1957-1959, 1975
box
folder
16
1
Otis Kline Associates, 1946-1958
16
2
Harold Ober Associates, 1975-1980
16
3
Packet Books, 1981, undated
16
4
Pearn, Pollinger & Higham, 1940, undated
16
6
Skeffington & Sons, Ltd., 1947
16
7
Paul Spencer, 1972, undated
16
8
Willett Clark & Co., 1935-1939
16
9
Kenneth Zahorski, 1977-1980, undated
16
10
Miscellaneous, 1974-1985
16
13
Fan mail, 1920-1939
16
14
Fan mail, 1944-1957
16
15
Fan mail, 1971-1979
16
16
Fan mail, 1983-1994
16
17-18
Fan mail, undated
16
21
Family Correspondence, 1864-1896
16
22
Family Correspondence, 1904-1916
16
23
Family Correspondence, 1920-1929
16
24
Family Correspondence, 1931-1939
16
25
Family Correspondence, 1940-1949
16
26
Family Correspondence, 1950-1958, undated
16
27
Correspondence with Vincent Furnas, 1900-1911, 1924-1929
16
28
Correspondence with Vincent Furnas, 1936, 1941-1949
This series contains Evangeline's personal copies of works she considered to be
influential. Some are inscribed to and from various members of her family.
box
17
Everyman's Library: The Mabinogion, translated
by Lady Charlotte Guest, 1932
17
At the Back of the North Wind, by George
MacDonald, inscribed "To my Beloved Sister Calista Hannah Furnas Fellows" with
a note from Annie Maria Furnas Coyner, 1934
17
The Spartan, by Caroline Dale
Snedeker, 1927
17
The Forgotten Daughter, by Caroline Dale
Snedeker, 1941
17
The Green Millennium, by Frtiz
Leiber, 1953
17
The Princess and Curdie, by George
MacDonald, 1930
17
The Princess and the Goblin, by George
MacDonald, 1930
17
Civil War Soldiers: Their Expectations and their
Experiences, by Reid Mitchell, 1988
17
Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Art
& Memorial Edition, inscribed "Miss Wilna Coyner Indianapolis", 1897
17
The History of Civilization: Minoans, Philistines, and
Greeks, edited by C. K. Ogden, 1930
17
A Treasury of the Theatre: An Anthology of Great Plays
from Aeschylus to Eugene O'Neill, edited by Burns Mantle and John
Gassner, 1935
17
The Palace of Minos at Knossos Vol III, by Sir
Arthur Evans, 1930
